Chapter 1 provides a concise overview of sustainable
development as a context for climate change mitigation policy. As argued there,
the concept of sustainable development defies objective interpretation or operational
implementation. However, it is precisely the diversity of interpretations that
makes up the biggest advantage of the concept: it is sufficiently rich
and flexible to refract the full diversity of human interests, values and aspirations
(Raskin et al., 1998). So nearly everyone can agree that sustainable development
is a good thing, and consensus has become possible over broad policy areas in
which previously people could not agree. Or, in the words of ORiordan
(1993), sustainable development may be a chimera. It may mark all kinds
of contradictions. It may be ambiguously interpreted by all manners of people
for all manners of reasons. But as an ideal it is nowadays as persistent a political
concept as are democracy, justice and liberty.

Now, sustainability is perceived as an irreducible, holistic concept in which
economic, social, and environmental issues are interdependent dimensions that
must be approached in a unified framework. However, the interpretation and valuation
of these dimensions give rise to a diversity of approaches. Different disciplines
have their own conceptual framework, which translates into different variables,
different pathways, and different normative judgements. Economists stress the
goal to maximize the net welfare of economic activities, while maintaining or
increasing the stock of economic, ecological, and sociocultural assets over
time. The social approach tends to highlight questions of inequality and poverty
reduction, and environmentalists the questions of natural resource management
and ecosystems resilience (Rotmans, 1997). Apart from the weight placed
on each of the critical dimensions, the important conclusion from this ongoing
debate is that achieving sustainable economic development, conserving environmental
resources, and alleviating poverty and economic injustice are compatible and
mutually reinforcing goals in many circumstances.

While the overall literature on sustainable development is very large, the
literature that focuses on concrete policies to make operational the concept
of sustainable development is, however, much smaller. This asymmetric coverage
of the guidance and the operational principles for managing a sustainable development
path constitutes a non-negligible barrier to an effective decision-making process,
since policymakers lack concise and relevant information that would allow them
to assess alternative development choices.